When I first came back to writing, after over twenty years of not writing anything more than a check or a hasty letter, I wrote fanfiction. Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfiction, in point of fact.

Why? I had no confidence in my ability to create a character, create a setting, or write a coherent line of dialogue. As I gained that confidence, I added original characters (not, I might add, Mary Sues) to the mix. And then I quit writing fanfiction altogether and began writing completely original fiction.

I posted my fanfiction stories in small communities, not in the major outlets. I confess that I’m a bit ambivalent about Amazon’s plan to market fanfiction. It could be interesting — especially as Amazon is getting permission from the creators. Or it could be a disaster.

What’s all this rant about, you ask? You don’t ask? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. I’ve been reading some anti-fanfiction posts and articles here and there. They gripe my cookies. I no longer write fanfiction. I no longer read it. But for me, fanfiction made for a comfortable set of training wheels when I didn’t think I could ride the fiction bike any more.

I keep trying to blog and Life, that sneaky wench, keeps throwing monkey wrenches, spanners, and assorted roadblocks in the works.

Be that as it may, I have a couple of announcements that need to be made. The first is that Kai Wilson-Viola’s book, “Glass Block,” will be released next week. I am very excited about this book and have been for a long time. I’ve read bits and pieces and earlier drafts of this futuristic, sci-fi, noir thriller-detective novel, and I know if you pick it up when it’s available, you’ll love it – assuming, of course, that you like that kind of genre. When it’s released, I’ll post links.

Now, for an announcement I can post a link with! Alexandria Publishing Group has a new category of books for your reading pleasure. Breaktime Bites. These are shorter works, ranging from short stories to novellas, just right for the train or subway ride to work, or lunch break, or maybe for the few minutes that your three-year-old takes a nap. The first of these is out today. Take a look. They’re inexpensive, quick reads. You might want to bookmark this link because there will be more releases.

Breaktime Bites

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Wow. I should do something about that.

Today I want to tell you about two offers from Valerie Douglas. One is a new release, “The Girl in the Window.” This is a different sort of book from Valerie. It’s more contemporary fiction. And it looks great. I bought it this morning. I love her work.  This one is only $2.99 for Kindle.

The Girl in the Window

Because Valerie is feeling generous, she has another offer for you. This weekend, she has a BOGO. Buy “The Coming Storm,” and you’ll get the sequel, “A Convocation of Kings,” FREE. These books are epic fantasy. Elves, magic, dwarves, battles. Good stuff!

The Coming Storm

A Convocation of Kings

If you have ever wanted to try out Valerie’s work, this would be an excellent chance to try it. These books are all under the aegis of Alexandria Publishing Group, by the way. This is always one  sign of a good book!

Writers Code of Honor

I, as a professional writer who values my integrity, do solemnly swear that I shall

1. Never write my own reviews, nor will I use sock puppets or other methods to falsely present my books as being of superior quality or to promote them over that of others.
2. Never ask others to like/tag/review my book without reading it simply to ‘support other writers.’
3. Never ask others to vote for my book without reading it in order to get a positive review or vote in order to have my book selected by an agent or publisher over that of other qualified writers.
4. Never ask others to give another writer bad reviews in order to make my book appear better than that writer.
5. Never attack a reviewer over a review for any reason. Negative reviews happen.
6. Never use another’s post in order to promote my own book.
7. Not advertise my books on sites that do not allow it, nor will I spam (advertise) endlessly. One post per day per site should be enough.
8. Always read the rules on every site, and respect those rules as they have been laid out, without looking for loopholes.
9. Agree to always treat other authors with respect and act in a professional manner.

(signed)

Mary Ann Peden-Coviello

* * * * * *

My own comment here: It’s rather a shame that other writers and I feel the need to state this so baldly. Every one of these points –- and every one is important – should be self-evident, fundamental, and not up for discussion.

But here it is. I think it’s a thoughtful pledge, not burdensome, not difficult to fulfill, not self-righteous. It could be summed up in the words said long ago and more honoured in the breach than in the observance since then: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Several writers from the Alexandria Publishing Group will have books for free over the weekend of September 14-16.

Among those are:

The Coming Storm by Valerie Douglas

Elon of Aerilann, Elven advisor to the High King of Men, helped negotiate the treaty between Elves, Dwarves and men. He suddenly finds that fragile truce threatened from without by an unknown enemy and from within by old hatreds and prejudice. With the aid of his true-friend Colath, the wizard Jareth and the Elven archer Jalila, he goes in search of the source of the threat.

Ailith, the Heir to Riverford, fights her own silent battle. Her father has changed, but her quest to discover what changed him puts her life and very soul in danger and leaves her only one direction in which to turn. Elon.To preserve the alliance, though, Elon will have to choose between his honor, his duty, and everything for which he fought.

(Click the title or the image to visit Amazon.com for the book.)

Magnus Opum by Jonathan Gould

A story about a little person in a very big world.

The Shadowbearer by Terry Simpson

Knight Commander Stefan Dorn, leader of the Unvanquished, has known only war, death and, victory. All in the name of his loyalty to King Nerian the Lightbearer, a man he idolized. Until now. Everything he thought he knew about the King, his people, and his world is coming to an end. At a time when there should be peace, he’s once again called to war. Torn between shocking changes at home, his family, loyalty to his men and his King, Stefan wishes only to enjoy life away from the battlefield. But with the new campaign comes a rabid, unforgiving enemy and a potential cataclysm. Follow him as he fights to save his family, his people, his honor, and his birthright from the grips of the shade. Can he save them all? If not, which will he choose, which will he lose? The Shadowbearer is a rousing and engaging prequel to Etchings of Power and a worthy addition to the Aegis of the Gods series.

Cataclysm by Stephen H. King

There’s a new face in the publishing neighbourhood, Alexandria Publishing Group. It’s a collective or collaboration among several independent (or indie) writers, editors, cover artists, and formatters — all dedicated to publishing the very best books possible. We work in several genres, too, ranging from fantasy (historical fantasy to dark to epic), romance, literary, suspense, action, horror, satire. It’s probably easier to state what we don’t include — and that would be badly-written, unedited, sloppy, or wince-worthy.

In short, if you see the all-seeing eye of the Alexandria Publishing Group logo on a book, you are assured of a quality book. Now does this mean you are going to love every book with that logo? Possibly . . . but maybe not. After all, look at the genres covered. A romance reader might or might not be interested in a horror novel and vice-versa.  At least, this will give you the same sort of starting point, I think, that other sorts of brand names can give you.

As part of the APG launch, we have giveaways! Prizes! Yay! Free eBooks. Free formatting– which, if you’re a writer, is a huge prize. A free 30-page edit of your work. Amazon gift cards. Free webhosting. And more. Go here and enter.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

All right. Let’s say, just for argument, that Polly Prolific has written a novel. She thinks it’s a marvelous piece of literature, for sure. Now Polly could send out a query letter—or seventy-three queries—and contact agents and publishers, or she could go indie and self-publish.

This being today and not, say, 2006, Polly decides to go the indie route. She works up a cover, maybe hires a freelance editor, formats her book, and publishes on Kindle. So far so good.

Then she starts the marketing and promotions. She arm-twists her mother and sister-in-law into downloading a copy. She persuades her preacher’s wife and her next-door neighbour.

Finally she picks up a few reviews on Amazon. Five stars (and she’s thrilled!), four stars (and she’s happy), three stars (and, instead of being pleased, she’s annoyed but can’t quite figure out why). And then, of course, it happens. The blasting, flaming, scorching, “I hated this book and everything about it right down to the punctuation!” review.

Now, how is Polly going to react?

Every writer gets those reviews, even the greatest.

Lately, I’ve seen a few writers, mostly indies, administering a smackdown to those whom they feel have “wronged” them in their reviews. Right there in the comments.  Telling the reviewers that their opinions weren’t valid, that the points they made were wrong, that – in the words of one I’m thinking of now, “giving this book a two-star rating is just wrong!” Well . . . I have a bit of a problem with that. The review is that person’s opinion. See that word: OPINION. It’s not gospel. It’s not going to ruin your book if someone doesn’t like it.

I know, you put hours—weeks—even years into writing this book. But calling out reviewers who don’t happen to care for it isn’t mature, isn’t wise, and in the long run isn’t going to win you any fans.

Grit your teeth. Take a deep breath. Ignore the living daylights out of a bad review.

Unless, of course, the reviewer has bothered to mention something you might need to take note of. When I write a less-than-happy review, I always give my reasons: bad grammar, shifting point-of-view, errors in punctuation. These things need to be fixed, not fumed over.

Sometimes a bad review can actually intrigue a reader anyway. I have picked up a couple of non-fiction books precisely because a reviewer went off on such a clearly biased rant that I wanted to see what the fuss was about.

I was reading comments on a forum the other day. Someone asked about hiring an editor to edit his book and was that really necessary. And if it was necessary, where could he find a good, inexpensive editor? The comments rapidly shifted from making the contents of the book as highly polished and professional as possible to “hire a good cover artist,” “a great cover will sell your book,” and “you need an eye-popping cover!”

Okay, an excellent cover is a plus. A lousy cover will turn off most potential buyers. I know that. No argument.  But guess what will turn off all your buyers? Lousy content. Sloppy writing. Cardboard characters who don’t act like any human beings who ever lived. Stilted dialogue. Bad spelling. Typographical errors. Wack-a-doodle punctuation.

Go to Amazon. Read a few book reviews. Any reviews. Any genre. Any writer. How many will say, “This book was full of bad grammar and spelling mistakes. 1 star!” Short answer: Lots. How many will say, “What a great cover! I didn’t even mind that the writer couldn’t tell a semi-colon from a hole in the ground!” Go ahead. Find one.

It’s true that I’m a freelance copy-editor. I don’t make much money at it. I’m not looking to make much money at it. I’m more interested, honestly, in helping indie writers improve their writing than in being able to light fires with hundred dollar bills. Or even one dollar bills.

But, seriously, sometimes I wonder if some indies are ever going to “get” it. It’s not the flash. It’s not the paint job. It’s the content. It’s the actual work that matters. The words. The sentences.

You can paint up a jalopy. You can re-chrome everything. You can tart that sucker up till it shines like a second sun even on a cloudy day.  But if it doesn’t have an engine, it won’t run.

A book is exactly the same. You can slap a brilliant cover on sloppy work and it’s still sloppy work. And your readers will recognize that it’s sloppy work and will “reward” you accordingly.

I love indie (also known as self-published) writers. I really do. My Kindle (which I also love) is chock-full of outstanding indie fiction, indie memoir, and indie writing advice. I am in several indie writing communities.

But, I have to tell you that every time someone raises – usually under a flag of neutrality, but sometimes with his freak flag flying and daring you to tell him that some rule actually matters – *takes a breath* Where was I? Oh, yes. Sorry. Whenever someone raises the subject of rules and do we really have to follow them, I just want to reach right through the internet and knock some sense into people.

I could end this now. YES, rules matter. They are there for a reason. DO NOT break them until you are quite sure you completely understand them. Grammar rules. Punctuation rules. Sentence structure rules. Point of View rules. Plotting rules. Sure, most of these can be bent and some can be broken if you’ve got good enough a reason. But if you go breaking them without knowing right down to your bones what you’re doing, you will write a mess.

Point of View is one of those tricky little beasts. I’m not going to write a whole book about point of view. There are are excellent books on that subject. Here are two just off the top of my head:

The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley

Write Great Fiction – Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress

You can find others.

Let me just say now that skipping around merrily from one character to another giving the reader the thoughts of each of them all in the same scene on the same page will eventually wear out our patience. And, no, just because Johnny is kissing Sally at the same time Sally is kissing Johnny we still don’t need to be inside both their minds at the same time.

One last thing. NO! George R.R. Martin is not breaking the rules of POV characters when he uses ONE, count ‘em ONE, POV voice for each separate chapter of his epic Song of Fire and Ice books. Because, ladies and gentlemen, that is the rule: One POV per chapter. It’s been further sliced to one POV per scene but classically and traditionally One POV Per Chapter is totally correct.

Why in the name of all that’s writerly would someone use Martin as an example of someone who is breaking the rules?

My own preference – not always adhered to – is to write in first person. Yes, it’s limiting. I like that. I like showing the reader only what the narrator sees and hears and knows. Because, guess what, the narrator can be wrong. She can trust the wrong person. She can misinterpret what she sees. And she takes the reader right along with her. Then I write third-person chapters (NOT just paragraphs and not usually scenes, usually whole chapters) that take place away from the first-person narrator, showing events of which she has no knowledge.  After all, Joan Hess and Elisabeth Peters use this technique all the time. Not that I’m in their league, you understand. It’s just an effective technique.

I’ve said it before and will no doubt say it again.

Indie writers have got to be BETTER than traditionally published writers. We have to write cleaner, fresher, prose; we have to make fewer typographical errors; we have to create stronger plots and more lifelike characters. We have to be twice as good to be thought half as good.

As long as we settle for almost as good – heck, as long as we settle for the faint praise of “just as good” – we are doomed to live on the edges, kicked to the curb, and ignored.

I don’t usually post personal things here. I’ve been tagged and asked to tell ten random things about myself. So just this once . . . and I warn you, none of these things is particularly interesting.

1. I have two actual sons and one unofficially adopted son. 2/3 of those young men are currently served in the US military, one in the Army and one in the Air Force.

2. I’ve been writing stories in my head since I was old enough to put words together. I’ve been putting them on paper since I was old enough to hold a pencil. Except for a 15-year (more or less) period when I was too busy trying to make a living, get married, start a family, that sort of thing. And even then I was spinning tales in my head. I can’t help it.

3. I’ve been fascinated by dinosaurs since I was eight or nine years old and first read a couple of books by Roy Chapman Andrews. He was one of the first paleontologists into the Gobi Desert and the first to discover intact dinosaur eggs.

4. At one time or another I’ve had almost every hair colour known to nature. I’ve never done pink or purple (well, not intentionally anyway), but I’ve done blonde (from dark to golden to platinum), brunette ( from almost black to golden brown), red (from dark auburn to flaming copper). Now, owing to damage to my shoulders that limits my ability to hold my hands up in a controlled manner, I’ve had to go grey. Not thrilled.

5. My fantasy men are all Bad Boys: Spike, Damon Salvatore, Eric Northman, Mal Reynolds, Dean Winchester, Angelus (not Angel). But my real life man is a straight-arrow, good man. I’ve been married to him since 1976. I suppose it’s going to last.

6. I’m a rabid Washington Redskins fan. Even when they couldn’t beat the junior varsity team of Lower Badlandia State University.

7. I’m presently obsessed with Sweden and all things Swedish. Except for the food. I just can’t go there.

8. I probably read at least four or five books a week. Week in and week out. Thank goodness for my Kindle. Now I buy only about half as many physical books as I used to.

9. I’ve only recently taken up zombies. For years I couldn’t stand them. In the last couple of years, I’ve written a couple of zombie stories, I’ve watched a lot of zombie films, I’ve become happily addicted to “The Walking Dead,” and I have read a lot of zombie books.

10. I have been trying to write this for two hours. I HATE writing about myself. This is filler. I know. But it is just beyond me to think of a tenth thing. THE END. (whew)